Across the Borders of Land, Sea and Mind

Chapter 3

Hermione flopped into her office chair. It made no sense, none at all. Skylier's conversation with Calebrecht was replaying oddly in her head. It was quite confusing. Hermione had no idea what it was all about. Cardinal had seemed to though. The look on his face when Calebrecht had entered the courtroom was very different than anything she had ever seen from Cardinal. He was usually very laid back and never let himself be bothered out of his permanent happiness. But Card's expression had been one of extreme dislike. It almost worried her.

Skylier's reaction she could understand. She wasn't one to hide her emotions at all. It was clear to Hermione that Skylier had some sort of real reason to despise Calebrecht, but Cardinal was difficult to explain. She was tempted to think that he only went along with it because Skylier did, but somehow, she knew that wasn't the case.

She glanced at the clock. Despite the fact that she should stay at work until 5:30, she had absolutely nothing to do, now that her trial was over. She was hesitant about leaving over two hours early, but decided her extra time could be better spent than sitting there. She left her office and headed back to the Ministry Libraries.

"Back again, dear?" Madam Pretin greeted her.

"Afraid so," Hermione replied with a smile. "I just came by to pick up another file. Godric Lantiera."

"Just a minute," Madam Pretin said, already disappearing into the shelves. She returned quickly, holding out a manila folder. She signed for it, thanked Madam Pretin, and left.

She was going to do a little detective work of her own. Her apartment would be empty, as the rest of its occupants were working or traveling, so she would have all the privacy she wanted. She hated to think what might happen if Skylier or Cardinal found out that she was prying into their lives.

She shut her study door behind her, and laid out all the files on her desk. She picked up Skylier's and began to read it through. There wasn't even a birth certificate. Apparently, Skylier had a job, a place of residence, and a name, but there was no real proof of her existence. She was more or less a law-abiding citizen, but forms and government waivers dated back to 73 years before. Her Hogwarts enrollment certificate was dated an outrageous 1328 A.D. and a Hogwarts employment certificate dated 1967. Either someone had been messing with her file, or something was seriously wrong.

She moved on to Cardinal's, finding it more or less the same. There was no birth certificate and his Hogwarts enrollment certificate was dated 1328 A.D. as well. But on one of his forms, one word caught her eye: Taleian. It was an official Ministry document stating that in 1974, Godric Lantecritia had given evidence against supposed Taleian citizen Garret Candrecia in a court of law. The book that Calabrecht had shown the muggle woman had been about the Taleian Wars. What the heck was Taleian, anyway?

She must have been so immersed in her work, that she didn't hear the front door open and close. She jumped at the soft knock on her study door, followed by Harry's face.

"Hey," he greeted her. "What 'cha doing?"

"Oh, just work, you know," she replied, casually but quickly closing the files and reinserting them into her bag. "But I think I'll quit for now. How was your trip?"

Harry put his hands in his pockets. "Good. You know how strenuous a trip with Gin can be." He smiled.

"I heard that!" came Ginny's all-knowing voice from the kitchen.

"Drat," said Harry sarcastically, snapping his fingers.

Hermione stood up and followed Harry out the door, shutting it behind her. Ginny was already rummaging in the kitchen. Apparently torn between chocolate ice cream and pecan pie, she looked up at them for advice.

"I've gotten myself into an extreme predicament," she said, looking between the two foods. "Oh what to do?"

As if in answer, Skylier, Cardinal and Ron walked through the door, and as though she already knew what was going on, Skylier immediately rounded on Ginny.

"Ginny Potter, you'd better not be eating my pie," she warned, tossing her bag on a chair. "That's going to the office."

"Well, that solves it then," Ginny said shrugging, and digging a spoon into the ice cream.

Cardinal threw himself into an armchair in the living room, a large leaf of the banana tree whapping him in the face as he did. He pushed it away impatiently, and when it refused to stay in one spot, began to fight with it. The others watched bemusedly as Cardinal wrestled with it until satisfied. He brushed his hair out of his face.

"I hate that stupid tree," he complained irritably. "Why do we even have the bloody thing?"

Skylier frowned and patted her tree fondly. "That's like saying why do we have your piano. I like it."

"But you can't play a banana tree," Cardinal protested. "It's completely useless! It doesn't even produce bananas!"

"That's because it's too young and too small," Skylier explained. "Besides, it's pretty."

"I feel like Gilligan," muttered Cardinal.

"As long as I don't have to be the millionaire's wife," Skylier retorted.

"Oo, oo, I wanna be Mary Anne!" piped up Ginny.

"No way, you've got to be the millionaire's wife, because I'm the millionaire," said Harry.

"Oh, bugger. I don't want to be old," pouted Ginny.

"Great, I'm Mary Anne," Hermione decided.

"Guess that makes me the Professor," said Ron.

"And me Ginger the movie star," Skylier said. "Even though Ginny's the resident red-

head."

"There's always Ron," suggested Cardinal.

"There's no way in heaven or hell you're going to get me into a coconut bra," Ron assured him.

The next morning, Hermione woke late. The best thing about Saturdays was that if she had to go to work it wasn't until two. On this particular Saturday, however, she did not have to work, and didn't get up until nearly eleven. She could hear the soft notes of the piano as she went downstairs. This tune was somehow different than the ones Cardinal usually played. His normal play list consisted of the works of great composers, but this was not Beethoven or Chopin. It was very Irish sounding, and it was so beautiful it sounded almost like it couldn't have possibly come from a real composer.

She paused to look in on Cardinal on her way to the kitchen. His fingers were dancing effortlessly across the keys, and his eyes were closed in reverie. Not wanting to disturb him, she padded silently to the kitchen.

Skylier's mood, however, was exactly the opposite of Cardinal's. She was stomping about her kitchen, spilling things and muttering to herself as she tried to pack all the food she had made into the refrigerator.

"What's all this then?" Hermione asked, gesturing to the food.

"Oh, I'm doing all the food for somebody's wedding shower, though I can't remember whose at the moment." Skylier replied, brushing a stray hair out of her face. They heard Cardinal begin a new song, and Skylier threw her hands in the air.

"You hear that!" she cried, more to herself than Hermione. "The Town I Loved So Well! And Star of the County Down before that! He's doing this on purpose! He knows he's going to drive me mad! First Garret, now him!"

Hermione had no idea what she was on about, and decided it best to leave her to it. She edged cautiously out of the kitchen and out the front door in search of Ron. She was surprised to find his door unlocked. He and Harry were sitting at the kitchen table having a friendly argument.

"That gives him no right whatsoever to kill Tybalt," Ron was insisting.

"But Tybalt was going to have to die anyway because he killed Mercutio," Harry said. "Why waste the city's money on a trial, when Romeo will do the job for free?"

"Because that's not how it works," said Ron, gesturing in front of him with his hands. "If I killed Skylier, the decision to pronounce judgment upon me would go to the authority, which would be Mione, or in Romeo's case, Prince Escalus, not you."

"Is that why she's in such a foul mood, because you killed her?" Hermione chuckled.

"No, she's mad at Cardinal for playing Irish music," Harry said. "I got out of there as fast as I could."

"What's she got against Irish music, anyhow?" asked Ron.

"Who knows," Harry said, shrugging. "She's been weird about anything concerning Ireland, Scotland, war, Seers, or some guy that you sent to Azkaban, and those topics sum up just about everything these days."

"Huh, so um, why are you guys arguing about Romeo and Juliet?" Hermione glanced

questioningly between them, grinning.

"Well, because there's nothing else to argue about, really," Harry said, shrugging again.

"So what's the argument?"

"Well," Ron began before Harry could speak. "You know how Tybalt kills Mercutio and Romeo gets mad and kills Tybalt? Well, Harry says that's okay, but I say it's not."

"Well, why do you say it's okay?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Because Tybalt would have been sentenced to death anyway for killing Mercutio, so why not just let Romeo let out his anger?"

"Because that's not how it's done," Ron persisted. "If Romeo had gotten caught, his case would have gone to the authority, Escalus. Nothing but war gives man the right to kill."

"So even though it's not okay for man to kill, it's okay for the government to administer capital punishment?" Harry challenged.

"Yes," Hermione put in. "Because the government has been given that reserved right by the people for only when the offender has been charged in a fair trial of murder crimes of a certain degree."

Ron sat back in his chair and folded his arms smugly. "What she said. I rest my case."

"Of course," Hermione continued, glancing at Harry. "It could be argued from Harry's side by saying -"

"Hey!" Ron interrupted. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

Hermione smiled. "That's the secret to debating, Ron: being able to argue from both sides, even if it's something you don't believe yourself."

The very sounds of the keys hitting the strings in the belly of the piano were driving her mad. The tick in her eyes was starting to become unbearable, and if he didn't stop soon, Skylier was going to murder her brother. She threw back and her head as she stomped toward the den.

"Godric Lantecieraveri! Knock it off! Knock it off! Do you know what that's doing to me?"

She marched into the den and stood, fuming.

Cardinal looked at her seriously. "You should be careful how you use that last name," he warned. "Is there anyone here right now?"

Skylier shook her head indignantly. "They're all across the hall."

"You should be careful how you use that last name," Cardinal repeated. "If anyone hears you say that they're going to ask questions."

Skylier huffed. "Maybe they should ask questions. Maybe it would be better if they found out. Then we wouldn't have to live like this, and we wouldn't have to be disguised, and I could speak my own language, and - and Gavin..." Her face fell.

"Come on, Sky, don't say that," Cardinal said solemnly, sensing either a depression or a fit of rage on Skylier's part. "Just forget about Lantecieraveri, okay? We'll never be Lantecieraveri's anymore, and it's just as well."

"Well don't drive me to the point of using it then! And why are you doing this to me? You know just the thought of Garret being here is killing me! Why don't you just bring the rest of the horrible memories?"

"Skylier, it's all falling into place; the note, Garret. I think we should go back." He said this rather quickly, and with some hesitation.

Skylier stared at him. "Go back? Go back? Don't you know the penalty for going back? How can we possibly go back? Why do you want to go back? How can you even think about this?" She put her hands to her head, and began to pace.

"I know it's hard, Sky, but we have to think about what's going on," Cardinal said. "You do realize that this year it's 2000 years since Rhiannon, and that the prophecies have to be taken into account? They're getting nervous, Demorian in particular; I can feel it. You can feel it. No matter how long you are gone, you'll never forget that feeling, Sky."

"I know," Skylier huffed. "But I won't forget anything else either, unfortunately."

"Just think about it, okay?"

"Tell you what," Skylier proposed. "I'll think about it, if you stop playing Star of the County Down, and The Town I Loved So Well, and everything else, deal?"

"Alright," Cardinal agreed, "but let me just play one more. It's pretty much the only one I haven't played yet."

As she made her way back to the kitchen, Skylier heard the beginning introduction to the song she had waited to hear.

"I should have known," she mumbled, almost smiling. "Lantecieraveri's March."